Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve morning started out with our annual North Pole breakfast! Then we spent the rest of the morning being pretty lazy! The girls played, and we decided to stay home from morning church and attend a Christmas Eve service later in the afternoon. 

 Every year, we make chocolate chip cookies for Santa, and this year, we put Gretchen in charge! I was exhausted from staying up late the night before and beginning to come down with some sinus drainage, and it sort of knocked me out. So, I was more than happy to turn the baking over to the girls! 

 And then we got ready for an early Christmas Eve service. 

 I absolutely love worshiping on Christmas Eve with the girls, and seeing them remember the reason we celebrate Christmas. 

 And afterwards, I told them they could have cookies, if they cooperated for a few pictures. 

 I mean, i'll totally take it! 

We took a quick family photo and then went over to the fellowship hall for some cookies. 

 As soon as we got home, the girls put on their jammies, and I set out a cheese, sausage, and fruit tray for a quick dinner. 

 It was perfect for Christmas Eve snacking!

While DJ and the girls ate, and finished baking cookies, I headed back to church to volunteer for the 7:00 Christmas Eve service.  Thankfully, my crew had cleaned up after dinner, and when I got home, it was time to get ready for bed! 

 But first, we sprinkled our reindeer food in the yard. 

And then each of the girls chose a cookie for Santa.

And we said good-bye to our elves. This is the one time that the girls are allowed to touch them, and this year, they started inspecting them and noticed their hands were sewn together. So, we may do away with this tradition next year! 

The girls gave them hugs and kisses, and then we settled down to read The Night Before Christmas, before sending the girls off to bed! Thankfully, they were all down before 9, and our presents were out and ready by 10:30, so it wasn't too late a night for us! 

We so enjoy our Christmas Eve traditions each year! 

North Pole Breakfast

Every Christmas Eve morning, our elves set up a breakfast for the girls! It's such a fun little tradition, and we look forward to it every year! It's always a nice surprise, and I absolutely love setting it up for the girls!

By 11 pm, I had everything set up and ready for the girls to wake up to! 

I set them a place setting with little placemats that I had found at Target, a new hot cocoa mug, a Santa plate, a popper, and a little chocolate covered marshmallow reindeer. 

 This year we had powdered doughnuts. (Some years, I just grab some Krispy Kreme, and other years we have powdered.)

 I found the cutest snowflake marshmallows at Target and set those out for the girls. 

 I used left over wrapping paper in the center of the table to give it some color and fun. 

 And, I made sure that our elves were watching over our breakfast. After all, they get all of the credit for setting this up! 

 At the last minute Saturday night, I decided to make blueberry muffins (from scratch) because i felt guilty giving the girls just powdered doughnuts (and fruit.)

I set out a bowl of M&M's, and some hershey kisses, just for some treats they could sneak later in the day! 

Our girls loved their breakfast, and we loved this little Christmas Eve tradition! 

Christmas Break Fun

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas yesterday and were able to celebrate the birth of Jesus with your family and loved ones! We spent the day at home and it was pretty perfect! I'll share our Christmas day, later on this week! Today, I'm sharing a little bit of our Christmas break and all the fun we've been squeezing in! 

Let me just say, that this break was exactly what I needed! We've been home with no schedule and it's been fabulous! 

We spent our first day of Christmas break cleaning. So fun! Ha! The girls asked to exchange Christmas gifts with each other, so I told them that they would have to spend some of their own money! Megan was totally behind the idea and was more than willing to help me clean so she could earn money to buy her sisters a present. We drew names, and they spent the morning helping me clean, and they never complained! It was fabulous! 

 The next day, DJ was home, so I headed to the gym. Megan woke up complaining that her stomach hurt, so we had to cancel her afternoon play date. Of course, she was so much better by that afternoon. 

After dinner, DJ took Gretchen to her first basketball practice, and the little girls and I stayed home to clean up the kitchen. When we were done, we bundled up in warm clothes, drove through Starbucks for hot chocolate and met DJ and Gretchen and headed to a huge local Christmas light display! 

 We walked through and saw all the lights! It was gorgeous and the girls had a blast staying up way past their bedtime! 

 On Friday, DJ worked the women's basketball game and he convinced me to bring the crazy out in the cold and rain! But, Santa was there and the girls were so excited!!! (We had hoped to make it back to visit Santa and just ran out of time, so this was perfect!)

 I grabbed lunch for the girls, and they watched the first half of the game. Gretchen was totally in to it! And, since the game was at 1:00 on a Friday afternoon, it was practically empty, and the girls had plenty of room to run around and play. Which, they did for most of the second half. 

After the game, DJ took the girls home and I finished up some last minute Christmas shopping. 

 And after dinner, we told the girls to get on their pj's, and we went out for our annual Lights & PJ Night! We had cookies, and drove around to look at houses, and finished our tour at our favorite house. 

We sat in the car, and watched the musical light display. Adalyn had fallen asleep, but I woke her up and pulled her up front with me so she would have a good view. This stop is a must every year! 

And on Saturday morning, we woke up to snow! 

The girls couldn't resist going outside in their pj's and playing in it! 

Gretchen eventually joined in, and the big girls made a snowman later in the afternoon. 

We drank Hot Chocolate, wrapped presents, and enjoyed being together with no real plans or agenda! 

Christmas with the Fam

Last Sunday, we had an early Christmas with the family. My parents came up Friday night, and my brother and sister in law drove in for the day on Sunday morning. 

DJ made his Gumbo for our Christmas lunch.

I absolutely love doing easy soups for holidays!

At one point, the girls stole my phone and took lots of photos while they were playing! 

And we were thrilled to finally have everyone together! 

I sure do love this momma of mine! 

These cousins are the craziest! 

Gretchen was just over chilling on the iPad! 

My mom had us play a few games! We played a version of "Monkeys in a Barrel" with Candy Canes, and then we realized we could balance them on our tongues. 

And then, it was present time! 

Megan was SO excited to get this baby doll! She named her Annabelle and is obsessed with taking care of her. 

And Gretchen totally thought she was getting a Nintendo Switch! She was SO excited, but that's not what was in the package! 

My sweet niece sent the girls gifts from Hawaii. 

And Adalyn got #allthebabies from her Gee.

Gretchen received books and an origami paper set from my niece. And, she read her book that same day! 

Addy received the sweetest little Hello Kitty. 

Megan is obsessed with Descendents, and was thrilled with her Mal doll! 

But, this may be the best reaction of them all! 

We're heading to the beach for a week this summer as a family, and Tiffany couldn't have been more excited! 

Okay, maybe this was the best reaction. Yaya received a Trolls play set from Gee and she said "How did you afford this!" Ha! We were all dying! 

Oh wait, is this the best expression?

Seriously, we were all so excited with our gifts! 

And we were excited about having family time! 

These are my people and I just love them so!